This Tuesday at the sea cadet hall Tromode will be a film show ‘Wartime Radio. The Secret Listeners’ followed by light refreshments / chip bap / chip butty. Please get there for 7:30pm.
So what is the film about?
Wartime Radio: The Secret Listeners
This 1979 BBC TV documentary, illustrated with archival film and interviews with those involved, traces the evolution of civilian involvement in radio-based intelligence during both world wars and highlights the key role played by Radio Amateurs.
It was the tireless work of amateur radio enthusiasts during World War I, that initially convinced the Admiralty to establish a radio intercept station at Hunstanton. Playing an integral role during the war, technological advances meant that radio operators could pinpoint signals, thus uncovering the movement of German boats, leading to the decisive Battle of Jutland in 1916.
Wireless espionage was to play an even more important role during World War II, with the Secret Intelligence Service setting up the Radio Security Service, which was staffed by Voluntary Interceptors, a band of amateur radio enthusiasts scattered across Britain. The information they collected was interpreted by some of the brightest minds in the country, who also had a large hand in deceiving German forces by feeding false intelligence.